Price
Increases? Some Suppliers Say NoThe
cost of business has been rising on nearly a daily basis over the
last six months due to price increases for raw materials, shipping,
health care and labor. The drastic upswing has forced many suppliers
to make the tough decision of passing along those costs to distributors
with mid-year increases. While any increase can be tough on distributors,
doing it so early in the year when many have locked in pricing
with clients, can be devastating. With that in mind, two suppliers,
BIC Graphic USA (asi/40480) and Aprons Etc. (asi/36558),
announced last week that they're holding prices through the
remainder of 2008.

"We feel it's unfair for distributors that had to
price and quote months ahead of time," says Scott Thackston,
executive vice president for Aprons Etc. "We feel that
it handicaps them for being able to sell our products. We are
taking a hit based on commodity and raw goods but feel it helps
give stability to our distributors and the industry."

While half
of Aprons' manufacturing is done domestically,
it's the diversity of its various lines that allows them
to absorb the cost increases. "We are going to take a hit
in certain areas but not across the board like other suppliers
are," says Thackston. "We can off-set the cost in
other areas, plus we have good stock levels and the ability to
negotiate between some of our domestic raw goods sources."

BIC is also feeling pressure but says it won't raise prices
during this year. "Our partnership position with our distributors
is to hold prices," says Jack Teague, BIC president. "We
understand and respect the programs that our distributors have in
place, so we have to honor our pricing programs that we established
back in January." That means absorbing the increases through
cost management and smart investment, such as higher-speed equipment
that can lower imprinting cost.

BIC is able
to take advantage of its domestic manufacturing capabilities,
which represent 75% of its production. "If we were exposed with 90% import and 10%
manufacturing we would have to raise our prices," says
Teague. "Suppliers that are really exposed are in a tough
spot."

Video
Report: SOI Sneak PeekWhile Counselor's
State of the Industry report is set to be released in mid-July,
we will reveal certain aspects of the survey each week in advance
of the issue. In this first installment of Ask Andy, where Counselor Editor
Andy Cohen offers up new data along with some tips for taking
advantage of the trends, we analyze client retention rates for
distributors. Also, we offer some tips for how distributors and
their salespeople can successfully retain their best customers  and
get rid of some of those pesky customers who seem to take up
too much time and aren't as profitable as they should be.Click here to
watch this State of the Industry sneak peek.

Two
Distributors Make Crain's Fastest-Growing
ListCrain's
Chicago Business recently
published its Fast Fifty list of the 50 fastest-growing companies
in the Chicago area. Two industry companies appeared in the
top five: Zorch International Inc. (asi/366078),
ranked number one overall, and InnerWorkings Inc. (asi/231438)
ranked fifth. Eligible for the list was any private or public
company in the Chicago area with at least $20 million in
sales in 2007 and five years of reported sales.

Zorch reached
the top spot on the list with just $22.6 million in sales but
an impressive four-year growth of over 45,000%. Founder and CEO
Nicole Loftus built the business by targeting the largest companies
in Chicago with high-quality and well-designed products at a
much lower cost than her competitors. Her game plan scored clients
such as Motorola, AT&T, Citibank and Sara Lee Corp.
InnerWorkings secured the fifth spot with 1,677% growth over four
years and sales of more than $288 million in 2007.

Survey: Credit Not So CrunchedExperts
agree that borrowing money from banks right now has become a more
laborious process, as they tighten their lending standards in the
wake of the subprime loan crisis. However, in a bit of good news
for companies still looking to grow, many experts say there is
still enough credit to be had provided business owners' finances are in order. Only 9% of business owners
reported that loans were harder to get in the early part of the
year, according to findings from the National Federation of Independent
Businesses, Washington, D.C. that were released in May. And only
3% of owners cited the cost and availability of credit as their
top concern. "April is at the high end of the historical
range for the past decade, but not indicative of a crunch," says
the report.

Ad specialty distributors tend to agree with this sentiment. Dan Bonner, who
is the purchasing agent for EmbroidMe (asi/187637) and Sign A Rama (asi/388000)
franchises, says, "I'm not having any problems getting leasing. Are
more people's credit bad than good? I'm not finding that. There are
plenty of people who want to do a lease. There are good deals to be had."

Ron Thomas, vice president of sales of Stowebridge Promotions (asi/337500),
says, "I get an awful lot of people calling us trying to loan us money.
We haven't applied for any. We just leased some embroidery equipment. For
tax purposes our accountant thought we should lease rather than buy it outright."

While
credit is available, industry companies say they must prove their credit in much
more detailed ways. "While rates are good,
qualifications are tighter," says Deborah Plugh, owner of Blaze
Promotions (asi/141376). "I'm on a couple of
boards with several different bankers. They've really become
more demanding about how you are going to use your funding. They
have tightened up their lending techniques a lot."

Medical
Examiner: Jack Levine Committed Suicide
While the
death of Jack Levine, the former president and CEO of the now-defunct
distributor CorpLogoWare, was initially reported as a massive heart
attack, Counselor has
learned that Levine committed suicide. In an investigation and autopsy
report obtained from the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department,
Levine is said to have died from "an
apparent self inflicted gunshot wound to the head."

Levine was
found on the night of March 24 in a Miami Extended Stay America hotel
room by police after he had e-mailed a friend about his intentions
to commit suicide. This followed a tumultuous few weeks and months
for Levine and his company, as the organization was forced to shut
its doors in March amid debts that totaled more than $25 million.

Joe
Show HOT EditionThis August, Counselor magazine will debut its
first-ever HOT Issue. The whole issue will be dedicated to the people,
places and topics that are the most popular  or, hottest  in
the ad specialty industry.

To kick off
the HOT Issue, Managing Editor Joe Haley is asking for your help
in picking the coolest products on the market today. Each week,
we'll present a new episode of The Joe Show, where we'll
show off five products in different categories. And then it will
be up to you to vote on the hottest product of the bunch.

This week,
we offer five fun products. Maybe they're good for a kid's
birthday party or simply a humorous idea for a corporate outing.
Either way, these games are sure to surprise and excite a crowd.Click
here to see a video
of all five products and then send an e-mail to Andy Cohen at acohen@asicentral.com to
vote for your favorite of the five.

Corporate
Shareholders Strike Safety ResolutionsCorporate
shareholders at Avon, Dow, Kroger and Mattel and other blue-chip
companies passed a record amount of resolutions regarding toxic
chemicals and product safety during the 2008 proxy season.
Twenty-one resolutions are under consideration at these companies,
up from 13 last year. The trend shows a clear focus on product
safety in consumer markets that is spreading to other industries,
as well.

Throughout the spring and summer, these resolutions will come to a vote. The
issues at hand include the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for packaging and
products, nanomaterials and other chemicals in cosmetics as well as PFOA used
for non-stick pans. "The polycarbonate bottle has become this year's
poster child for the safer chemicals in products issue, just as Thomas the Tank
Engine was last year's," says Richard A. Liroff, executive director
of the Investor Environmental Health Network, based in Falls Church, VA. "The
aggressive substitution of other promotional items or bottles of other kinds
is absolutely essential for companies attempting to build good will with clients
and potential clients."

This shift in end-user thinking has already had an impact on the
ad specialty market and will only continue to do so. Robert Thibodeau,
president of Imprinted Specialty Products (asi/230709),
recently had an order for 10,000-20,000 baby bibs scrapped because
the client was "too skittish to go through with it," he
says. "They were worried about lead in Chinese products. I
assured them that they were safe, but they went back to what they
were doing. Everyone in this business is going to have to deal with
it."

UPS Extends Guarantee To CanadaUPS
Freight, the ASI affiliate that introduced its on-time performance
guarantee in the U.S. in January, announced last week that it has
expanded the guarantee to shipments moving in both directions across
the Canada-U.S. border. The new reliability guarantee, offered
at no additional cost to customers, applies to direct shipments
between points in the U.S. (48 contiguous states) and points served
by UPS Freight service centers in Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Moncton,
Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Windsor and Winipeg.

The
on-time service guarantee is effective June 30 for less-than-truckload
customers on both sides of the border who ship using the current
UPS Freight UPGF525 tariff. The guarantee promises that customers
can request a waiver of their freight charges if their shipment fails
to arrive as scheduled. Detailed terms of the guarantee can be found
in the tariff. For more information, go to www.upsfreight.com

2009
ASI Advantages Roadshow Schedule ReleasedThe 2009 16-week U.S. schedule for the ASI
Advantages Roadshow was recently announced and can now be
viewed at www.advantagesroadshow.com.
The new
schedule is designed to increase the ASI Advantages Roadshow
presence in additional cities, consolidate some geographic regions
and preserve portions of the schedule. In addition, the Stitches Roadshow
will be co-located in six cities with the Advantages Roadshow,
a three-city expansion of the embroidery equipment and supplies
show.

Since the beginning
of the year, and with several weeks remaining
in the season, more than 9,200 people have attended
the Advantages Roadshow — that's over 700 distributors,
on average, attending a typical week and far more attendees
than any competing traveling industry show. The five remaining 2008
Advantages Roadshow weeks include the Midsouth, August 18-22; Northeast
IV (incorporating PromoShows' East Coast Business Gifts and
Promotional Products Showcase), September 2-5; Midwest IV, September
8-12; California II, September 22-26 and Midwest V, October 13-17.
Visit www.advantagesroadshow.com for
additional details.

Hot Issue: Industry-Related LegislationThe industry is constantly being affected by legal changes on the
local, state and national level. Counselor will be taking
a look at some of the most pressing legislation facing the industry
in our special "Hot Issue" in August. What new laws or
legal challenges do you think will have the biggest influence on your
business in the year to come? Send your thoughts to Senior Editor Matt
Histand at: mhistand@asicentral.com

In The NewsAdmore (asi/32050)
has been given the Chain of Custody Certification from the Forest Stewardship
Council, an international organization that promotes responsible stewardship
of the world's forests. The company was also
recognized at The Gallery of Superb Printing and The Detroit Club of Printing
House Craftsmen awards dinner for outstanding workmanship in the printing industry.

Boxercraft (asi/41325) has announced a company-wide green campaign
that will include reducing, reusing and recycling initiatives. The company
says the new program will save over 96 trees and 2,280 gallons of oil each
year.

Pro-Motion Notion (asi/299948) has moved to a new location: 3739
S. Tuttle Ave, Sarasota, FL.

NQP
on Gas Gift Cards asi/53434 - The
offer of Complimentary Travel or merchandise is the
single best way to get someone's attention. Since 1989,
ETTSI has been helping companies and organizations
achieve a number of amazing goals both internally and
externally. View Special...

Get
glamorous at Staton asi/89380 - Family
owned and operated...since 1981! View Special...

Rally
Fans with Stouse 89910 asi/89910 - Rally
Fans are in season! They are available in your choice
of spot color or 4-color process. Call customer service
for details! Toll free 877-764-5757 View Special...

Every
college kid needs a laundry bag! asi/65952 - Bag
to School with LBU! View Special...

One
Compact, Complete, Convenient Bag for your Pet, for
use at Home or while Traveling asi/36226 - The
Ideal Pet Product, a MUST for every Dog or Cat Owner! View Special...

Solis
by BIC Special Pricing on our Most Popular Pens! ACT
NOW! asi/40480 - All
products from BIC Graphic USA are imprinted with the
highest quality and the utmost attention to detail.
Customer service is also a cornerstone of BIC Graphic
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that lead the industry. View Special...

Get
ready for the 4th! Independence from high flash drive
prices! asi/37218 - All
items include free shipping, 1 or 2 color imprint and
free set-up fees! View Special...

Time
to Play Ball asi/37865 - Get
your sports balls now for lots of summer fun View Special...

CHICAGO
PRINTING & EMBROIDERY HOMERUN asi/700303 - $1.49
tees and $1.89 hats at Chicago Printing for June. We
are a Family owned Screen printing and Embroidery company
located in the Chicago area. Over 20 years exp.. Please
visit us at www.yourshirtstore.com or call 847-931-1033 View Special...

Pepco
introduces All-New Plastic Hitch Covers - asi 77280 asi/77280 - Take
your spirit "on the road" with Pepco's all-new
auto Hitch Covers. Available in seven fun shapes and
up to a dozen sports colors. Imprint your team logo
or message on any of these designs and you will have
your own mini traveling billboard. View Special...

Hurry
before you miss the deadline of Gemini's Sizzling Specials asi/56100 - Check
out our catalog and website www.geminiindustries.com
for more products to help you promote your company!! View Special...

Admints & Zagabor:
Patriotic Specials! asi/31516 - From
the beginning, the goal at Admints has been to deliver
a product that offered value and answered a basic need
- a great product at a great price. View Special...

FREE REGISTRATION
DEADLINE FOR ASI CHICAGO — THE
LARGEST SHOW OF THE SUMMER — IS
JUNE 27
Each year thousands of distributors attend ASI
Chicago, the biggest show of the summer and largest event in the Midwest,
to discover all that is new and innovative for the all-important second
selling season. Taking place at McCormick Place on July 22-24, there is no better
place to find thousands of hot, money-making products and services for the
profitable gift-buying, holiday season. Plus, ASI distributor members who
register by Friday, June 27, will enjoy free admission.